A mounting substrate for a liquid ejection device, such as an inkjet printhead, has conventionally been made by an insert molding process that forms both the die-attach portion for the liquid ejection device(s), including the fluid feed channels or slots with lands there between, and a housing portion including alignment and fastening features, such as bolt holes. Such a mounting substrate is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0149024 (incorporated herein by reference). Affixed to such a mounting substrate are typically one or more inkjet ejector die, an electrical lead pattern (such as a flex circuit) for providing electrical interconnection to the inkjet ejector die, and a manifold for providing fluid connection between the tight spacings of the fluid feed channels and the wider spacings of the ink tanks. In addition, after electrical connection between the inkjet ejector die and the electrical lead pattern has been provided, for example by wirebonding, encapsulation is deposited over the interconnection region for mechanical and environmental protection.
Although the mounting substrate described in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0149024 works satisfactory, in some applications it would be preferred to have fewer discrete parts. Fewer parts enable manufacturing simplicity that has fewer assembly steps. In addition, a configuration having fewer interfaces between discrete assembled parts can have fewer potential points of failure, so reliability is improved. Furthermore, it has been found that protection of the nozzle face of the ejector die from inadvertent collisions with the recording medium can also be important to printhead reliability
Consequently, a need exists for a mounting substrate that incorporates electrical leads, protection of the nozzle face, and fluidic connection to the ejector die, provided in a simple integrated and low-cost fashion.